Liberal  Education 

By 
Thomas  Hill 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


LIBERAL     EDUCATION. 


AN 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED   BEFORE    THE 


PHI  BETA  KAPPA   SOCIETY 


HARVARD     COLLEGE, 


JULY     22,     1858. 


BY 

REV.    THOMAS     HILL, 

OF      VV  A  L  T  H  A  M  . 


CAMBRIDGE: 

PUBLISHED    BY  JOHN    BARTLETT. 

1858. 


LIBERAL     EDUCATION. 


AN 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED   BEFORE    THE 


PHI  BETA  KAPPA  SOCIETY 


HARVARD     COLLEGE, 


JULY    22,     1858. 


BY 

EEV.    THOMAS     HILL, 

OF      WALTHAM. 


C  AMBRID  GE: 

PUBLISHED    BY  JOHN    BARTLETT. 

1858. 


CAMBRIDGE  : 
ALLEN     AND     FARNHAM,     PRINTERS. 


>••        ••••       «  .       .  ••  .  .      ...     . 

•       ••••••••  •••• 

•  •      •••..!••••        •*  •      ••• 

,.:..:..:  •.•   •::••.  A.-  .• ..:    :  :•-. 

•  . .»•  •  ..«  ••  >  . 
••  •••  . .  •••  ••* ' 


jhrary 


/J34-I 


ADDRESS. 


Brethren  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  ;  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen ivho  have  honored  us  ivith  your  presence :  — 

THE  motto  of  our  society,  and  the  avowed  objects  for 
which  it  was  instituted,  must  be  my  apology  for  the 
seeming  abruptness  of  entering,  without  any  prefatory 
remarks,  upon  the  subject  to  which  I  intend  to  invite 
your  attention.  The  "promotion  of  a  sound  literature" 
depends,  in  a  large  measure,  upon  the  promotion  of  a 
sound  education.  The  natural  tastes  of  a  young  student 
are  so  much  modified  and  so  unequally  cultivated  in 
the  course  of  his  preliminary  and  collegiate  education, 
that  his  choice  of  a  special  pursuit  is  frequently  deter- 
mined more  by  his  culture  than  by  natural  attraction ; 
and  his  proficiency  in  the  chosen  pursuit  is  also  largely 
affected  by  the  character  of  his  preliminary  study. 

To  what  more  important  and  more  interesting  ques- 
tion, therefore,  could  I  invite  your  attention  than  to 
this :  What  principles  should  guide  us  in  the  selection 

.379518 


and  arrangement  of  studies  in  the  academic  course,  — 
that  is,  in  the  whole  course  previous  to  the  student's 
entering  upon  the  particular  special  pursuits  to  which 
his  tastes  or  his  choice  of  a  profession  will  finally  lead 
him? 

What  branches  are  essential,  and  which  are  not 
essential  ?  How  far  should  the  essential  branches  be 
carried?  How  far  should  non-essential  branches  be 
permitted  to  occupy  the  student's  time  ?  What  powers 
of  the  mind  most  need  education  ?  How  shall  it  be 
given  them  ?  What  principles  should  guide  us  —  this 
is  the  discussion  to  which  I  invite  your  attention  — 
what  principles  should  guide  us  in  deciding  these 
various  points  ? 

I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  this  subject  as  a  question 
of  policy  for  our  own  Alma  Mater,  nor  with  reference 
to  the  success  of  the  student  in  after-life ;  but,  so  far  as 
my  powers  may  suffice,  in  the  broad  light  of  duty,  — 
of  the  relations  of  the  soul  to  the  universe  and  to  its 
Maker. 

The  principles  which  should  regulate  the  course  of 
collegiate  study  may  evidently  be  reached  by  three  in- 
dependent lines  of  approach,  and  the  identity  of  the 
results  attained  by  these  three  independent  methods 
would  be  a  sufficient  proof  of  their  correctness. 

We  might  first  survey  the  literature,  arts,  and  science 
of  the  historic  races,  and  from  the  various  success  of 
their  attempts  at  liberal  culture,  compared  with  the 
various  modes  in  which  they  attempted  it,  draw  our 


conclusions  as  to  the  wisdom  of  these  modes,  and  the 
soundness  or  unsoundness  of  the  principles  on  which 
they  were  founded.  Or  we  might,  in  the  second  place, 
observe  the  course  of  Divine  Providence  in  its  dealin^ 

o 

with  us,  the  children  and  scholars  of  the  heavenly 
teacher,  and  draw  from  the  studies  and  discipline  of  the 
school  of  life,  the  principles  which  should-  govern  the 
schools  of  men.  %^ 

Either  of  these  modes  of  inquiry  will  lead  to  the 
same  results  as  those  which  may  be  obtained  from  a 
survey  of  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  and  of  the 
objects  on  which  those  powers  can  be  exercised. 

The  passive  powers  of  the  human  soul  may  be  divided 
with  sufficient  accuracy  for  the  purposes  of  the  present 
discussion  into  three  groups :  sensational,  emotional,  and 
intellectual.  I  have  named  these  groups  in  the  order 
of  their  connection  with,  and  dependence  upon,  the 
physical  frame  and  the  material  world.  All  these  are  in 
various  degrees  under  the  control  of  the  active  power, 
that  is  of  the  will,  and  all  are  conjointly  employed  in 
nearly  every  ordinary  act  of  life.  A  perfectly  trained 
man  must  therefore  have  all  his  powers  cultivated. 
They  are  all  capable  of  improvement  through  proper 
education,  and  the  culture  of  any  one  set  of  powers 
will,  of  necessity,  in  some  measure  improve  the  rest. 
A  scholar  should  cultivate  even  the  powers  of  simple 
sense ;  for  without  accurate  perception  and  delicacy  of 
muscular  action,  there  can  be  no  high  executive  power 
in  the  arts,  and  no  great  attainment  in  the  sciences  of 

1* 


observation.  That  the  intellectual  powers  need  a  care- 
ful training  is  conceded  by  all  men.  The  emotional 
powers  stand  in  no  less  need  of  culture,  without  which 
both  morals  and  art  (which  are  the  expressions  of  the 
higher  emotions,  the  one  in  life,  the  other  in  artistic 
work)  must  suffer.  Most  of  all  does  the  will  need  self- 
imposed  restraints,  or  rather  need  to  subject  itself  volun- 
tarily to  the  discipline  which  the  Father  has  appointed. 
Religion  is  the  education  of  the  will,  to  teach  it  to  sub- 
mit to  the  laws  of  reason  and  of  duty. 

And  since  there  can  be  no  perception  through  simple 
sense  without  intellectual  effort ;  no  emotion  with- 
out consciousness,  more  or  less  distinct  (and  conscious- 
ness is  thought) ;  and,  finally,  no  volition  without 
motive,  either  based  on  judgment  or  emotion ;  it  is 
manifest  that  a  full  enumeration  of  the  objects  of 
human  thought  will  include  all  the  objects  that  can 
influence  the  culture  of  the  man.  Nor  do  I  consider  it 
necessary  in  our  rapid  review  of  the  objects  on  which 
the  human  powers  can  be  exercised,  to  do  more  than  to 
attempt  a  rough  classification  of  things  actually  in  ex- 
istence, and  concerning  which  we  may  attain  to  more 
or  less  of  knowledge. 

I  am  accustomed  to  regard  the  hierarchy,  of  sciences 
as  composed  essentially  of  five  different  grades,  accord- 
ing as  the  sciences  deal  with  one  or  another  of  the  five 
series  of  existing  things.  For  the  universe,  so  far  as  it 
can  be  the  object  of  our  knowledge,  consists  of  only 
these  five  portions :  first,  the  Infinite  Spirit,  the  Supreme 


Will  at  the  head  of  all ;  secondly,  men,  the  finite  spirits, 
the  limited  wills ;  thirdly,  the  acts  of  these  finite  crea- 
tures ;  fourthly,  the  actions  of  the  Infinite  Being,  be- 
side those  included  in  the  formation  and  guidance  of 
our  spirits ;  fifthly,  and  finally,  the  field  and  space  of 
time  wherein  these  works  are  wrought.  Thus  I  would 
include  all  possible  sciences  under  these  five  heads: 
Theology,  which  refers  to  theJi^vine  Being;  Psychology, 
using  that  word  to  include  all  that  belongs  to  the  human 
powers  of  thought,  feeling,  or  perception ;  History,  ex- 
tending the  signification  of  the  term  to  include  all  the 
thoughts  and  achievements  of  men ;  Natural  History,  in 
which  I  place  also  the  chemical  and  the  mechanical 
sciences ;  and,  fifthly,  Mathematics.  I  shall,  during  the 
remainder  of  the  time  which  your  indulgence  may 
grant  me  to-day,  use  the  words  history  and  natural  his- 
tory in  these  extended  senses. 

I  am  aware  that  there  may  be  some  difficulty  in  de- 
ciding to  which  of  these  five  divisions  some  of  the  special 
sciences  belong,  and  we  may  be  tempted  to  say  that 
they  belong  to  several  at  once,  or  that  they  are  not  in- 
cluded in  any  of  the  divisions.  But  I  believe  never- 
theless that  this  primary  classification  will  stand  a  close 
examination,  and  that  the  whole  range  of  the  objects 
of  scientific  study  is  included  in,  and  divided  between, 
theology,  psychology,  history,  natural  history,  and 
mathematics. 

And  these  five  departments  are  so  connected  that 
one  continually  leads  to  the  other,  and  cannot  naturally 


.8 

be  taught  without  the  other.  They  naturally  follow 
each  other  in  the  inverse  order  to  that  in  which  I  have 
named  them,  and  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  know 
any  thing  of  theology  unless  we  first  know  something 
of  psychology ;  any  thing  of  psychology  without  some 
previous  knowledge  of  history ;  any  thing  of  history 
without  some  slight  acquaintance  with  natural  history ; 
any  thing  of  natural  history  without  some  previous  idea 
of  number  and  form,  that  is  of  mathematical  truth- 
This  order  is  observed  even  in  the  first  hours  of  an  in- 
fant's life,  and  no  man  can  watch  the  development  of 
his  own  child's  mind,  with  any  degree  of  care,  without 
perceiving  the  folly  of  attempting  to  teach  a  child  any 
thing  pertaining  to  any  one  of  these  branches  of  knowl- 
edge without  previously  teaching  him  the  correspond- 
ing truths  in  the  lower  branches.  All  knowledge  is 
built  upon  a  double  basis  of  consciousness  and  percep- 
tion ;  and  the  five  great  divisions  of  the  hierarchy  of 
science  are  arranged  in  exact  proportion  to  the  relative 
importance  of  the  two  bases  in  each  branch.  That  is 
to  say,  in  mathematics  we  rest  chiefly  on  observation 
and  perception,  very  slightly  on  consciousness ;  in  the- 
ology we  rest  chiefly  on  consciousness,  very  slightly  on 
observation ;  and,  of  the  other  three  sciences,  natural 
history  most  closely  resembles  mathematics  in  this 
respect,  while  psychology  most  nearly  resembles  the- 
ology. 

The  powers  of  the  child  are  developed  in  this  same 
order.     At  first  he  is  a  being  of  sensation  and  simple 


9 

emotion,  with  but  feeble  thought  and  feeble  will ;  but  if 
he  comes  to  the  stature  of  perfect  manhood,  he  becomes 
a  being  of  unconquerable  will,  of  comprehensive  intel- 
lect, while  the  emotions  are  no  more  intense  than  in 
youth,  and  the  sensations  perhaps  not  so  vivid.  This 
order  of  development  in  the  child's  powers  indicates  the 
propriety  of  cultivating  them  in  theilame  order ;  first 
taking  the  studies  most  dependent  on  perception,  and 
least  on  consciousness,  and  leaving  a  thorough  examina- 
tion of  metaphysical  questions  for  the  adult  powers. 
Now,  geometry  is  least  dependent  on  consciousness  ;  it 
deals  with  space,  which  we  conceive  of  as  wholly  dis- 
connected with  our  own  spirits.  The  physical  sciences, 
whether  organic  or  inorganic,  require  a  maturer  con- 
sciousness that  can  turn  inward  and  compare  that  which 
is  written  in  the  mind,  the  sense  of  efficiency,  the  love 
of  harmony,  etc.,  with  that  which  is  seen  without,  the 
action  of  the  Divine  will  and  Divine  purpose.  Physics 
are  therefore  fitted  for  riper  minds  than  those  to  whom 
geometry  appeals.  In  like  manner  history  requires  a 
more  constant  interpretation  from,  consciousness,  than  is 
required  by  physics  ;  and  psychology,  more  than  is  de- 
manded by  history. 

Every  mode,  indeed,  in  which  I  have  viewed  the  sub- 
ject, brings  me  to  the  same  conclusion,  that  the  mathe- 
matics are  the  .preliminary  studies  ;  that  they  should  be 
followed  first  by  natural  history,  then  by  history,  and 
finally  by  psychology  and  theology.  I  do  not  of  course 
mean  that  the  child  is  to  receive  no  religious  instruction, 


10 


until  he  has  mastered  all  that  is  known  on  the  other 
subjects  ;  for  I  have  already  said  that  the  powers  of  the 
soul  are  developed  somewhat  simultaneously.  The 
order  of  succession  which  I  have  named  applies  particu- 
larly to  the  periods  of  their  attaining  maturity.  What 
I  do  intend  to  say  is,  that  these  five  branches  of  studies 
should,  in  every  stage  of  common  or  liberal  education, 
keep  proportionate  pace  with  each  other;  that  the 
parent  or  teacher  should  watch  the  development  of  the 
child's  mind  and  character,  giving  it  the  higher  truth  so 
soon  as  it  is  prepared  for  it ;  but  remembering  that  one 
necessary  part  of  the  preparation  is,  the  study  of  the 
lower  truths. 

And  yet  what  has  been  the  usual  practice,  even  to  the 
present  time  ?  The  study  of  natural  history,  which  in 
a  true  education  naturally  lies  between  mathematics 
and  history,  is  almost  wholly  neglected,  and  men  have 
gone  to  the  pursuits  of  art,  literature,  law,  divinity,  and 
even  medicine,  without  any  proper  knowledge,  even 
the  most  elementary,  of  mechanics,  chemistry,  botany, 
or  zoology.  Their  culture  has  lacked  the  natural  and 
necessary  basis ;  their  speculations  have  been  vague 
and  fanciful,  their  reasoning  specious  and  unsound,  and 
their  practice  shallow  and  empirical.  The  evil,  it  will 
be  perceived,  lies  further  back  in  education  than  in  our 
colleges ;  it  commences  in  our  nurseries  and  in  our 
primary  schools.  The  mother,  and  the  teacher,  not 
having  themselves  been  taught  to  look  upon  the  world 
of  matter  with  an  intelligent  eye,  as  upon  the  means 


11 

which  God  himself  has  furnished  for  the  instruction  of 
children  and  of  men,  confine  themselves  in  mathemat- 
ics to  the  abstractions  of  arithmetic,  leap  over  all  nat- 
ural history,  to  put  the  child  upon  the  historical 
branches  of  spelling  and  grammar ;  or  if  they  teach 
geography,  they  omit  the  physical  and  astronomical 
treatment,  and  confine  themselves  to  ponies  and  statis- 
tics. What  wonder  that  the  child  thus  educated  should 
learn  to  despise  the  insect  and  the  flower ;  and,  being 
ignorant  of  the  divine  wisdom  of  that  Word  which  has 
created  all  things  in  number,  weight,  and  measure,  and 
filled  all  things  with  beauty,  should  grow  wise  in  its 
own  conceit,  and  find  its  pleasures  in  follies  of  its  own 
devising  ?  Perhaps  a  judicious  selection  of  studies  in 
preparation  for  college,  or  in  the  curriculum  there, 
might  do  much  to  repair  the  evil ;  but  the  selection  for 
this  collegiate  education  has  usually  been  confined  to 
mathematics  and  to  the  single  historical  department  of 
philology.  A  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  lan- 
guages, and  of  the  conic  sections,  with  the  unavoidable 
growth  of  the  mind  in  all  directions,  produced  inci- 
dentally in  acquiring  this  knowledge,  have  been  gen- 
erally considered  the  principal  results  to  be  desired 
from  education.  There  are  not  wanting,  even  at  the 
present  day,  men  to  maintain  that  the  study  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  classics  comprises  in  itself  more  valu- 
able discipline  for  the  mind,  and  more  valuable  food  for 
thought,  than  is  to  be  found  in  all  the  pursuits  of  nat- 
ural science.  But  this  opinion  can  be  sustained  neither 


12 

from  experience  nor  from  the  nature  of  things.  The 
five  great  branches  of  the  hierarchy  are  all  essential  to 
a  complete  education.  The  Greek  and  Latin  classics, 
however  thoroughly  studied,  give  us  nothing  of  natu- 
ral history,  or  almost  nothing.  The  education  which  is 
founded  exclusively  upon  them  must,  therefore,  how- 
ever excellent  in  its  superstructure,  be  defective  in  its 
foundations. 

Nor  should  those  who  hold  in  high  reverence  the 
masters  of  Grecian  thought,  be  unwilling  that  the  at- 
tention of  the  student  be  directed  in  a  large  measure 
to  the  study  of  natural  philosophy.  The  culture  of 
the  Greeks  was  distinguished  from  that  of  all  other  of 
the  ancient  nations,  by  its  breadth  and  variety.  The 
germs  of  most  of  the  modern  sciences  are  to  be  found 
in  its  literature.  Not  one  of  the  great  divisions  of  the 
hierarchy  was  neglected.  In  mathematics  they  pur- 
sued geometry  to  a  height  to  which  few  of  modern 
students  can  follow  them.  In  natural  history,  they 
have  given  us  mechanicians  like  Archimedes,  and  nat- 
uralists like  Aristotle.  In  history,  I  need  but  mention 
Herodotus  and  Thucydides,  and  taking  history  in  the 
wider  sense  which  I  have  given  it,  the  great  proficiency 
of  the  Greeks  in  logic,  grammar,  rhetoric,  sculpture, 
painting,  and  music.  In  psychology,  we  have  a  Plato 
and  a  Socrates,  as  the  highest  examples  of  a  type  of 
mind  not  unfrequent  in  the  Grecian  State ;  and,  if  we 
can  show  nothing  worthy  of  high  respect  in  their  theo- 
logical speculations,  it  is  not  from  their  want  of  ability 


13 

or  of  attention  to  the  subject,  but  simply  because  no 
human  intellect  can  treat  that  theme  worthily,  until  it 
has  placed  itself  under  the  guidance  of  inspired  teach- 
ers. Nor  did  the  individual  masters  of  Greece  confine 
their  attention  to  a  single  study.  Their  sculpture 
bears  witness,  that  they  united  a  knowledge  of  anat- 
omy and  of  mathematics  to  a  love  OT  that  art.  In 
architecture  they  combined  the  art  of  sculpture  with 
the  application  of  still  more  subtile  mathematical  and 
optical  investigations.  And  some  of  their  greatest^ 
scholars  attained  eminence  and  honor  in  nearly  all  of 
the  great  departments  of  thought. 

He,  therefore,  that  has  imbibed  the  true  spirit  of 
Grecian  culture,  must  be  led  to  honor  all  the  pursuits 
of  the  human  mind,  and  to  seek  for  truth  in  every 
direction.  That  man  does  not  so  truly  reverence  Plato, 
who  spends  his  days  in  a  critical  investigation  of  Plato's 
words,  as  he  who  is  led,  by  a  single  reading  of  those 
eloquent  pages,  to  devote  himself  with  that  great  mas- 
ter to  the  pursuit  of  the  good,  the  beautiful,  and  the 
true,  —  who  is  stimulated  by  Plato's  metaphysics  to 
speculate  with  Hamilton  of  Edinburgh,  or  by  Plato's 
geometry,  to  labor  with  Hamilton  of  Dublin.  The 
schoolmen  of  the  middle  ages,  settling  all  questions  by 
an  appeal  to  Aristotle,  did  not  honor  that  great  edu- 
cator, naturalist,  and  logician,  so  highly  as  those  who, 
in  imitation  of  his  industry  and  docility,  inquire  of 
nature  for  the  secrets  intrusted  to  her  for  the  benefit 
of  the  wise,  or  endeavor  to  extend  and  perfect  the 

2 


14 

grammatical,  logical,  and  rhetorical  sciences  for  which 
Aristotle  laid  so  secure  and  so  broad  a  foundation. 

That  an  undue  estimate  of  the  value  of  Greek  and 
Latin  should  have  been  made  in  the  sixteenth  century 
is  by  no  means  surprising.  The  culture  of  Europe  had 
for  a  long  time  been  very  narrow,  almost  entirely  ex- 
cluding physical  inquiries.  When  the  importance  of 
physics  and  natural  history  first  began  to  be  felt,  the 
happy  change  was  in  great  measure  due  to  the  influ- 
ence of  Greek  authors,  through  the  medium  of  Arabic 
translations,  sometimes  a  second  time  translated  from 
the  Arabic  into  some  other  tongue.  The  Greek  litera- 
ture appeared  thus  to  be  the  California  from  which 
these  precious  treasures  of  science  came,  and  the  Latin 
language  was  at  that  day  the  easiest  mode  of  approach- 
ing the  Greek.  Thus  the  knowledge  of  these  two 
tongues  was  a  key  to  all  the  learning  of  that  period. 
But  those  languages  hold  now  a  very  different  place. 
There  is  not  a  single  department  of  human  thought  in 
which  modern  nations  have  not  surpassed  the  achieve- 
ments, —  I  do  not  say  the  ability,  —  but  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  ancient  Greeks ;  new  sciences  have  within 
the  past  century  sprung  into  existence,  and  attained  a 
rank  of  the  highest  importance,  the  germs  of  which 
were  in  Aristotle's  day  scarcely  visible.  New  applica- 
tions of  science  to  the  useful  and  to  the  fine  arts  have 
changed  the  whole  aspect  of  civilized  society.  The 
scholar  of  the  present  day  is  to  labor  with  and  for  a 
people  whose  whole  mode  of  life  and  mode  of  thought 


is  different  from  that  of  the  people  of  a  hundred  years 
ago.  Shall  the  training  which  prepares  him  for  his 
work  be  the  same  as  that  of  a  hundred  years  ago  ?  As 
the  course  of  events  in  the  world's  history  runs  on,  and 
more  important  changes  are  developed  in  the  state  of 
human  society,  can  it  be  expected  that  all  those  who 
desire  a  liberal  culture  for  themselves  or  for  their 
children,  should  be  still  satisfied  with  a  course  of  in- 
struction, that  devotes  a  principal  part  of  the  student's 
time  to  a  critical  investigation  of  the  structure  of  the 
dead  languages  ? 

I  acknowledge  the  great  importance  of  philological 
investigation.  Language  is  one  of  the  noblest  of  the 
works  of  men ;  it  constitutes  in  its  own  structure  the 
most  complete  record  of  human  thought,  and  of  the  de- 
velopment of  human  character.  The  study  of  language 
is,  therefore,  the  most  essential  department  in  that  third 
great  branch  of  the  hierarchy  of  science  to  which  I 
have  applied  the  title  history.  "Without  a  proper  study 
of  language,  it  is  impossible  that  the  student  should 
make  any  progress  in  the  higher  branches  of  political 
economy,  metaphysics,  ethics,  and  religion.  But  the 
most  valuable  part  of  the  study  of  words  does  not  con- 
sist in  acquiring  that  intimate  familiarity  with  any  one 
foreign  language  which  will  enable  one  to  write  or 
speak  it,  nor  does  it  consist  solely  in  the  intellectual 
exercise  of  learning  to  read  it,  and  in  the  intellectual 
vigor  thereby  produced.  It  consists  rather  in  rising,  by 
the  study  of  particular  examples,  to  a  perception  of 


16 


some  of  those  general  laws  of  thought,  and  laws  of  ar- 
ticulation, which  govern,  the  first  the  syntax,  rhetoric, 
and  logic,  the  second  the  etymology,  of  all  languages. 
For  the  purpose  of  attaining  these  general  views,  a 
moderate  acquaintance  with  four  or  five  languages 
is  better  than  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  one  or 
two.  With  larger  views  in  the  teacher,  more  benefit 
may  be  derived  from  a  short  course  of  study,  than  from 
a  protracted  drill  under  a  teacher  of  microscopic  views. 
I  am  assuming,  you  perceive,  that  the  attainment  of 
knowledge  itself  is  one  of  the  objects  at  which  the 
student  should  aim.  I  am  aware  that  it  has  beerf  said 
the  true  end  of  liberal  culture  is  the  perfection  of  the 
student.  It  is  said,  that,  in  the  university  proper,  the 
student  is  to  be  considered  as  the  end  in  himself.  I 
have  no  objection  to  these  statements  provided  they 
refer  to  what  should  be  the  aim  of  the  instructors  and 
of  those  who  prescribe  the  studies.  But  when  a  man 
proceeds  tacitly  to  assume  that  the  student  himself 
should  look  upon  knowledge  as  valuable  only  as  it  ex- 
ercises, and  by  exercise  develops  and  invigorates  the 
mind,  I  most  earnestly  protest  against  the  assumption. 
The  motive  from  which  a  course  of  action  is  ordered, 
and  that  motive  from  which  the  action  is  performed, 
are  seldom  rightfully  the  same.  Self-culture,  proposed 
as  an  end  in  itself,  is  only  a  refined  selfishness,  and,  like 
all  other  forms  of  selfishness,  a  self-destroying  absurdity. 
The  highest  culture  is  unattainable  by  one  who  seeks 
«t  as  self-culture :  it  is  to  be  obtained  only  by  the  soul 


that  looks  away  from  itself,  and  seeks  out  of  itself  for 
the  good,  the  beautiful,  and  the  true.  Equally  false  is 
a  second  tacit  assumption,  that  the  only  powers  of  the 
mind  which  need  the  development  of  a  liberal  culture 
are  those  of  reasoning.  Proceeding  on  this  assumption, 
various  writers  have  issued  special  pleas  for  various 
branches  of  learning  as  deserving  of  the  most  prom- 
inent place  in  an  academical  curriculum.  One  has  ar- 
gued in  behalf  of  the  mathematics,  that  they  offer  the 
finest  specimens  of  connected  trains  of  reasoning,  and 
afford  the  finest  gymnasium  for  the  powers  of  consecu- 
tive thought.  Another  has  called  our  attention  to  the 
conceded  fact,  that  these  sciences  reason  only  of  one 
kind  of  relation,  that  of  quantity,  and  therefore  are  a 
less  valuable  intellectual  exercise  than  metaphysical  and 
moral  philosophy,  which  deals  with  all  things.  A  third 
party  claim  for  the  Latin  and  Greek  tongues  the  merit 
of  giving  the  most  varied  and  constant  exercise  to  the 
judgment  and  ingenuity  of  the  student.  A  tournament 
in  which  such  giants  as  the  Master  of  Trinity  College  and 
the  Edinburgh  Professor  of  Logic  meet,  is  beyond  contro- 
versy a  grand  and  entertaining  spectacle.  But  to  at  least 
one  observer  of  that  contest,  it  appears  that  both  cham- 
pions were  contending  for  error,  since  it  was  assumed 
on  both  sides  that  the  discipline  of  the  logical  powers 
was  the  chief  end  of  liberal  education.  All  the  powers 
of  the  soul  are  essential  to  a  perfect  soul  as  much  as  all 
the  members  of  the  body  are  essential  to  a  perfect  body. 
It  only  needs  to  assert  this  doctrine  to  have  it  command 

2* 


18 

assent.  Even  the  senses,  the  power  of  receiving  im- 
pressions from  the  outward  world,  are  to  be  held  wor- 
thy of  honor  and  of  cultivation,  since  they  are  incon- 
trovertibly  powers  of  the  soul. 

Those  who  assert  that  speculative  knowledge  is  of 
value  only  as  it  excites  to  speculation,  and  that  truth 
is  of  value  only  as  it  leads  a  man  to  search  after  truth, 
must  be  considered  as  speaking  in  hyperbole.  As  dis- 
tinctly as  consciousness  gives  us  the  assurance  of  the 
existence  of  objective  truth,  so  distinctly  does  the  in- 
stinctive thirst  for  truth  assure  us  that  its  possession  is 
a  positive  good  in  itself.  Without  the  faith  that  knowl- 
edge is  a  positive  good,  we  could  not  embark  upon  the 
search  for  knowledge.  Truth  is  not  only  to  be  sought, 
but  to  be  gained.  Truth  is  the  prize  held  up  before 
those  who  wrestle  with  difficulties  and  obstructions  to 
obtain  it,  and  if  we  consider  it  worthless  in  itself  we 
cannot  strive  for  it.  Care  must  therefore  be  taken  lest, 
while  setting  forth  strongly  the  value  of  discipline  and 
exercise  to  the  student's  mind,  we  take  from  him  the 
principal  stimulus  which  can  prompt  him  to  that  exer- 
cise. 

Sir  William  Hamilton's  glorious  plea  in  behalf  of 
metaphysics,  and  his  amusingly  earnest  depreciation  of 
physics  and  mathematics  as  means  of  liberal  culture, 
are  therefore  neither  of  them  satisfactory,  in  so  far  as 
they  assume  intellectual  gymnastics  to  be  the  only  end 
of  education ;  and  it  wrould  be  easy  to  show  by  extracts 
from  his  own  writings,  that,  in  his  sober  judgment,  he 


19 

would  take  a  much  wider  view  of  a  generous  education 
than  that  which,  in  the  warmth  of  controversy,  he  has 
set  forth  in  writing. 

If  truth  is  to  be  sought  it  must  be  with  the  hope  of 
attaining  it.  And  if  the  knowledge  of  truth  is  de- 
clared by  our  instinctive  appetite  to  be  a  good,  there 
is  no  kind  of  truth,  which  can  be  pronounced  useless. 
A  selection  is  doubtless  to  be  made,  since  no  one  mind 
can  learn  ail  things,  but  that  selection  should  not  con- 
sist in  choosing  objects  so  much  as  in  determining  the 
amount  to  which  each  is  to  be  studied.  We  instinc- 
tively accord  homage  to  a  man  of  general  information. 
Liberal  culture  consists  in  the  study  of  every  thing 
true,  the  pursuit  of  every  thing  beautiful  and  good. 
It  will  not  answer  to  neglect  and  exclude  a  branch 
because  it  affords  but  a  slight  gymnastic  to  the  rea- 
son. It  may  afford  an  exercise  for  some  other  equally 
valuable  faculty  of  the  soul.  We  are  to  assume  that 
whatever  is  true  is  worth  knowing.  The  moment  that 
we  cease  to  make  our  studies  general  and  confine  our- 
selves to  one  branch,  no  matter  how  lofty,  we  become 
specialists.  The  mere  metaphysician,  or  philosopher, 
may  be  as  profoundly  lacking  in  judgment  and  taste 
as  the  mere  mathematician,  or  the  mere  physicist. 

I  am  aware  that  in  our  own  honored  Alma  Mater, 
and  in  some  other  colleges,  a  change  in  the  course  of 
instruction  similar  to  that  which  I  am  now  advocating 
has  already  begun  to  take  place,  and  that  I  may  be 
considered  as  taking  on  myself  a  superfluous  task  in 


20 


defending  the  study  of  the  natural  sciences.  But  I 
conceive  that  the  changes  already  begun,  have  in  most 
instances  been  undertaken  either  too  rashly,  or  else 
too  cautiously,  and  rather  as  concessions  to  the  popu- 
lar desire  than  in  obedience  to  clear  and  cordial  con- 
victions of  their  utility.  I  have  felt  that  the  view 
which  now  I  have  given  of  the  constitution  of  the 
great  circle  of  sciences,  vindicates  the  claim  of  physics 
and  natural  history,  which  I  have  grouped  together 
under  the  latter  term,  to  a  prominent  place  in  every 
general  course  of  instruction.  It  is  not,  as  I  conceive 
it,  a  question  of  expediency,  or  a  question  of  the 
times,  but  a  question  of  inherent  necessity ;  a  ques- 
tion of  absolute  duty.  There  can  be,  in  my  view,  no 
true  education  that  is  not  founded  upon  a  knowledge 
of  the  mathematics;  a  thorough  cultivation  of  the 
physical  powers,  including  a  discipline  of  the  senses ; 
and  an  acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  the  material 
world,  both  organic  and  inorganic.  This  'must  be 
followed,  step  by  step  as  it  proceeds,  with  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  fine  arts,  with  the  analysis  and  use  of  lan- 
guage, with  the  lessons  of  history,  and  their  applica- 
tion to  the  politics  of  our  own  day.  And  the  whole 
must  be,  from  first  to  last,  conducted  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  highest  Christian  theology  and  Christian 
morality.  I  cannot  see  that  any  other  culture  would 
be  liberal  and  broad  for  any  people,  of  any  age.  In 
this  scheme  of  education  the  classics  hold  a  subordi- 
nate, but  still  a  prominent  and  honorable  place,  in 


21 

the  great  department  of  history,  while  the  new  sci- 
ences of  chemistry  and  its  allied  branches  in  all  their 
multiform  applications,  to  both  the  useful  and  the  fine 
arts,  must  take  an  equally  honorable  place  in  the 
great  department  of  natural  history. 

The  view  which  I  have  thus  given  has  been  wholly 
with  reference  to  the  culture  of  the  intellect,  and 
founded  upon  the  hierarchy  of  the  sciences,  strictly 
so  called.  I  have  already  said  that  the  same  conclu- 
sions might  be  reached  through  a  different  mode  of 
approach.  The  intellect  is  but  one  of  those  subordi- 
nate powers,  that,  in  a  full  developed  man,  serve  the 
behests  of  the  will.  Knowledge  is  not  the  only  nor 
even  the  highest  good.  Learning  to  know,  however 
much  we  may  learn,  and  however  great  the  truths  we 
may  learn,  gives  us  but  a  part  of  the  soul's  nourish- 
ment. As  the  food  of  organized  beings  must  be 
varied,  and  a  plant  or  an  animal  may  be  starved  to 
death  if  confined  to  any  food  rich  in  all  things  else, 
yet  lacking  one  essential  element,  so  a  soul  may  be 
dwarfed  and  crippled  in  its  growth  even  while  daily 
supplied  with  the  richest  spiritual  treasures,  if  any 
one  essential  element  of  spiritual  life  be  withheld.  A 
man  may  be  a  perfect  prodigy  of  learning,  and  know 
all  that  the  human  mind  can  know,  an  intellectual 
giant  capable  of  grappling  with  any  problem,  and  yet 
be  lacking  in  the  highest  elements  of  human  nature ; 
he  may,  for  example,  be  lacking  in  that  Divine  energy 
of  love  which  gives  a  man  power  to  do  and  to  endure ; 


22 


which  enables  a  man  to  use  his  knowledge  for  the 
benefit  of  his  fellow-men.  The  mere  acquisition  of 
knowledge,  the  mere  strengthening  of  the  intellectual 
powers  even  to  the  understanding  of  every  subject 
that  can  be  fathomed  by  the  human  mind,  is  but  a 
partial  culture,  and  makes  but  a  stinted  and  dwarfed 
man  unless  it  is  accompanied  by  love,  by  that  noble 
enthusiasm  which  sees  all  truth  as  a  part  of  the  infi- 
nite treasures  of  God,  and  while  filled  with  adoring 
wonder  at  the  infinite  wisdom  of  the  Divine  mind, 
burns  also  with  a  longing  to  lead  other  men  to  share 
with  him  in  the  holy  joy. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  circle  of  sciences  as  though  a 
man  could  attain  a  knowledge  of  all  the  five  great 
branches  of  human  thought ;  but  we  are  told  on  high 
authority  that  if  any  one  thinks  he  knows  any  thing, 
he  as  yet  knows  nothing  as  one  ought  to  know.  For 
we  know  only  in  part.  The  simplest  truths  that  can 
be  grasped  by  the  understanding  have  an  infinite  vari- 
ety of  relations,  and  open  to  boundless  and  unexplored 
fields.  He,  therefore,  who  thinks  that  he  knows  any 
thing  perfectly,  proves  thereby  that  he  does  not  know 
it  as  one  ought  to  know  it ;  that  he  does  not  perceive 
its  relations  to  the  unfathomable  truth.  The  whole 
universe  is  a  combination  of  thoughts  and  ideas,  nu- 
merous and  diversified  beyond  our  power  to  count,  but 
nevertheless  bound  together  in  one  harmonious  whole ; 
the  whole  universe  being  in  fact  but  one  thought  of 
the  Divine  mind.  The  human  mind  can  never  ex- 


23 

haust  its  wondrous  meaning.  That  which  seems  sim- 
plest to  us  contains  in  reality  an  infinite  depth  of 
God's  thought,  and  it  is  only  our  ignorance  or  our 
self-conceit  that  makes  us  suppose  that  we  perfectly 
understand  it.  The  first  point  in  true  learning  and 
the  last  point  are  always  the  same ;  namely,  to  learn 
that  there  is  something  more  to  be  learned.  This  is 
the  greatest  value  of  learning,  —  to  be  made  continu- 
ally aware  of  the  presence  of  something  higher,  some- 
thing wider,  something  better,  something  more  Divine, 
to  which  we  may  aspire. 

Now  it  appears  to  me  self-evident  that  this  highest 
fruit  of  learning  can  be  nowhere  more  surely  gathered 
than  from  the  field  of  the  natural  sciences.  That 
which  is  abstract  never  appeals  so  vividly  to  our  feel- 
ings as  that  which  is  concrete.  And  while  I  would  be 
far  from  implying  that  education  has  power  in  itself 
to  regenerate  a  human  spirit,  I  think  it  not  inconsist- 
ent with  that  written  Word  which  has  beyond  contro- 
versy been  the  most  powerful  of  all  visible  agents  in 
redeeming  the  human  race,  to  say  that  the  study  of 
nature  in  its  varied  aspects  is  another  of  the  most 
effectual  modes  of  calling  out  the  better  feelings  of 
the  heart.  When  the  abstract  teachings  of  ethics  and 
theology  have  been  forgotten,  and  long  familiarity 
with  the  customs  of  society  has  made  the  soul  indiffer- 
ent to  all  higher  themes,  nothing  more  frequently  pen- 
etrates to  the  inner  seat  of  life  and  awakens  those 
better  emotions  which  are  the  pride  and  glory  of  man- 


24 


hood,  than  the  presence  of  some  natural  object  of  un- 
usual interest  or  unusual  beauty.  The  sight  of  a 
flower,  or  the  song  of  a  bird,  recalling  the  memory  of 
an  innocent  childhood,  has  frequently  melted  a  heart 
which  would  remain  unmoved  by  the  logic  of  an  Ed- 
wards or  the  fervor  of  a  Wesley. 

In  childhood  the  senses  are  open  to  the  reception  of 
truth  from  the  outward  world.  A  child  sees  and  hears 
a  thousand  things  that  escape  the  observation  of  a 
man.  Train  him  in  the  usual  mode  of  education  and 
he  soon  loses  the  habit  of  attending  to  outward  things, 
learns  to  tread  upon  the  insect  and  to  pass  by  the 
flowers,  to  let  the  bird  sing  unnoticed,  and  the  pebble 
glitter  untouched.  But  give  him  a  true  education, 
including  in  his  studies,  as  a  prominent  part,  the  ele- 
ments of  chemistry,  botany,  and  zoology,  and  his  eye 
shall  not  become  dim  nor  his  ear  dull  of  hearing ;  in 
manhood  his  heart  will  be  open  to  the  sweet  influence 
of  the  flowers,  and  to  the  grandeur  of  the  starry  heav- 
ens; he  will  read  the  meaning  of  each  singing  bird, 
and  catch  the  true  expression  of  the  solemn  tones  of 
the  thunder.  When  the  forest  ocean  surges  under  a 
July  breeze,  and  the  clouds  sail  majestically  through 
the  blue  sky,  they  will  fill  his  heart  with  emotions 
unknown  to  one  who  despises  these  glorious  works  of 
the  Most  High  as  being  mere  matter.  I  again  ac- 
knowledge that  no  course  of  education  can  be  able  to 
redeem  a  fallen  soul ;  simple  diet  and  exercise  cannot, 
at  least  in  one  generation,  remove  the  taint  of  hered- 


itary  disease.  But  what  study  can  have  a  greater 
effect  in  leading  a  student  to  a  reverence  for  the  pur- 
poses of  God,  and  for  the  laws  of  his  own  being,  than 
that  of  those  natural  sciences  which  are  directly  occu- 
pied in  investigating  the  thoughts,  purposes,  and  ac- 
tions of  the  supreme  creative  will  ?  And  what  studies 
can  put  into  the  hands  of  one  who  truly  desires  to 
serve  his  fellow-men,  more  valuable  instruments  to 
serve  them,  than  those  natural  sciences  which,  through 
their  application  to  the  necessities  of  human  life  and 
to  the  wants  of  human  society,  have  so  gloriously  dis- 
tinguished the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries? 
Far  be  it  from  me  to  disparage  the  value  of  artistic, 
literary,  metaphysical,  and  mathematical  culture.  I 
am  urging  the  claims  of  the  natural  sciences  partly 
because  of  the  aid  which  an  acquaintance  with  them 
can  give  in  the  pursuit  of  all  other  branches  of  learn- 
ing, and  in  the  exercise  of  all  branches  of  art.  From 
what  source  does  the  sculptor  draw  his  inspiration, 
and  what  enables  him  to  make  a  "statue  that  enchants 
the  world  ?  "  Or  how  does  the  painter  give  to  a  little 
piece  of  canvas  a  value  that  endures  for  ages,  and 
makes  every  beholder  rich  ?  These  artists  had  their 
sense  of  beauty  cultivated  by  a  reverent  contempla- 
tion of  natural  forms  and  natural  colors,  their  artistic 
powers  of  execution  guided  by  a  careful  study  of  anat- 
omy, and  of  the  laws  of  light  and  vision.  What  gives 
the  musical  composer  his  power  to  control  the  hearts 
of  men  ?  His  sensibilities  have  been  cultivated  by  an 

3 


26 

attention  to  the  music  of  nature,  and  his  artistic  power 
guided  by  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  sound  and  of 
hearing.  What  can  give  a  greater  charm  to  the  pages 
of  literature  and  to  the  periods  of  the  orator  than 
fresh  odors  from  the  woods  and  fields,  and  living  fig- 
ures from  the  wild  creatures  of  his  own  country  ?  The 
hills  of  New  England  would  furnish  to  a  thoroughly 
trained  New  England  orator,  a  honey  of  eloquence  as 
sweet  as  that  of  the  Athenian  Hymettus.  Where  shall 
the  metaphysician  learn  to  correct  the  wandering  of 
his  thoughts  and  to  keep  his  feet  firmly  planted  upon 
the  ground  of  common  sense  so  surely  as  in  the  natu- 
ral sciences,  where  alone  his  theological  speculations 
are  secured  against  both  pantheistic  and  atheistic  ten- 
dencies, and  where  alone  he  can  learn  his  true  relation 
to  tb.e  wholly  mortal  races,  and  his  real  points  of  supe- 
riority to  them  ?  As  for  the  mathematician,  it  is  man- 
ifest that  he  can  find  no  problems  for  the  exercise  of 
his  powers  in  either  of  the  branches  of  the  hierarchy 
above  natural  history.  As  he  derives  his  first  concep- 
tions of  figure  and  number  from  material  things,  so 
most  of  the  higher  problems  which  are  to  engage  his 
attention  in  the  coming  centuries  wiU  be  suggested  by 
an  investigation  of  the  forms  and  motions  of  the  phys- 
ical universe.  The  question  of  the  organic  forms  has 
scarcely  yet  been  touched,  and  only  the  vaguest  hints 
been  given  either  in  botany  or  zoology  of  the  mode 
by  which  we  can  approach  the  study  of  the  number- 
less varieties  of  natural  figures. 


27 

A  practical  inquiry  may  be  made  as  to  the  extent  to 
which  I  should  recommend  the  study  of  each  one  of 
the  natural  sciences  as  a  part  of  liberal  culture.  But 
as  this  is  not  a  fit  occasion  for  entering  into  details,  I 
must  content  myself  with  answering,  that  if  my  views 
of  the  hierarchy  of -sciences  are  correct,  the  natural 
sciences  should  occupy  in  the  general  scheme  of  com- 
mon education  as  prominent  a  place  as  the  languages, 
and  for  general  purposes  of  culture  should  precede  a 
knowledge  of  other  tongues.  At  the  same  time  I 
would  freely  admit,  that  uncultivated  men,  seeing  the 
great  economical  value  of  a  knowledge  of  physical 
laws,  will  be,  in  our  age  of  the  world,  apt  to  overesti- 
mate the  value  of  natural  science  ;  and  it  becomes  men 
of  liberal  culture  to  maintain  also  the  value  of  classical 
learning,  of  historical  investigation,  of  metaphysical 
analysis,  of  ethical  and  theological  discussions.  The 
common-place  truth,  that  different  men  have  different 
tastes  and  different  powers,  is,  like  every  other  com- 
mon truth,  a  valuable  guide  in  our  higher  inquiries. 
We  must  no  more  expect  by  a  course  of  education  to 
make  all  men  naturalists,  than  to  make  all  linguists,  or 
all  mathematicians.  One  object  in  making  our  scheme 
of  common  study  thorough  and  comprehensive  is,  I 
repeat  it,  to  make  men  the  better  specialists ;  and  it 
would  be  as  great  a  mistake  to  underrate  the  value  of 
the  mathematics,  the  languages,  history,  logic,  or  moral 
philosophy,  as  it  is  to  underrate  the  natural  sciences. 
If  my  plea  in  behalf  of  the  latter  study  has  any  force 


28 


or  value,  it  arises  from  the  connection  of  the  five  great 
departments  of  thought  as  essential  parts  of  one  whole ; 
and  from  the  logical  precedence  in  time  in  which  these 
studies  should  follow  each  other  in  a  natural  education. 
I  should  as  strenuously  oppose  the  exclusion  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  tongues  from  the  general  course  of 
instruction,  as  I  should  advocate  the  introduction  of 
natural  philosophy,  chemistry,  botany,  and  geology. 
History  is  an  absolutely  essential  part  of  a  liberal  edu- 
cation ;  the  study  of  language  is  the  most  essential  part 
of  history  (since  language  is  the  necessary  vehicle  for 
conveying  thought,  and  the  history  of  thought  is  of 
course  more  important  than  the  history  of  action) ; 
and,  finally,  the  study  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues 
is  the  most  important  part  of  the  study  of  languages, 
because  those  tongues  are,  for  many  reasons,  the  most 
important  that  have  ever  yet  been  spoken.  The 
Greeks,  to  whose  authority  I  have  appealed  in  behalf 
of  mathematics,  physics,  and  metaphysics,  as  branches 
of  liberal  culture,  paid  also  much  attention  to  gram- 
mar, logic,  and  rhetoric ;  and  our  education  will  be  in- 
ferior to  theirs,  if  we,  dazzled  by  the  brilliant  achieve- 
ments of  physics  and  mathematics  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  should  be  led  to  neglect  the  study  of  our  own 
language,  or  of  those  tongues  from  which  it  draws  its 
elements  of  grace  and  subtilty. 

The  practical  question,  to  what  extent  any  branch 
of  science  must  be  pursued,  will  depend  for  its  solution 
partly  on  the  average  age  and  capacity  of  the  pupils, 


29 


partly  on  the  ability  and  tastes  of  the  instructors  who 
can  be  readily  obtained,  and  principally  on  the  length 
of  time  over  which  the  course  of  studies  is  to  be  ex- 
tended. The  question  is,  theoretically,  of  easy  solution. 
Each  department  of  science  is  to  be  pursued  to  pre- 
cisely the  extent  required  for  a  foundation  of  the  suc- 
ceeding branches  in  the  same  curriculum.  The  diffi- 
culty will  consist  in  determining  what  extent  is  thus 
required,  without  allowing  ourselves  to  be  biased  by 
our  individual  tastes. 

A  second  inquiry  may  be  made  as  to  the  possibility  of 
introducing  so  many  branches  into  a  limited  course. 
It  is  maintained  by  some,  that  the  increased  breadth  of 
culture  thus  obtained,  does  not  compensate  for  the  nec- 
essary lack  of  thoroughness,  and  that  a  change  in  our 
general  course  of  academic  instruction  such  as  I  here 
recommend,  would  render  our  scholars  still  more  ob- 
noxious than  ever  to  that  charge  of  superficiality 
which  is  so  often  brought  against  them.  I  might  reply 
to  this  question  of  the  possibility  of  studying  all  things, 
by  simply  saying  that  I  have  demonstrated  it  to  be 
desirable,  and  that  "  whatsoever  is  desirable  is  possible, 
and  will  one  day  become  actual."  If  the  succession  of 
the  great  departments  of  knowledge  be  such  as  I  main- 
tain it  to  be,  the  course  of  instruction  which  I  have 
marked  out  is  necessary,  and  therefore  possible.  But  I 
believe  that  experience  is  already  able  to  show  that,  in 
a  varied  course  of  study,  such  as  I  here  recommend, 
the  progress  of  the  pupil  is  actually  greater  in  each 

3  * 


30 

branch,  than  it  would  be  if  he  had  not  pursued  the 
other  studies.  A  change  of  occupation  is  a  rest  and 
refreshment  to  the  mind  ;  and  when  those  occupations 
are  arranged  in  a  natural  order,  the  labor  of  taking 
them  up  successively,  and  making  a  certain  amount  of 
progress  in  each,  is  not  at  all  proportioned  to  the  num- 
ber of  pursuits.  The  objection  to  a  want  of  thorough- 
ness, which  it  is  supposed  might  proceed  from  a  multi- 
plicity of  studies,  is  based  upon  what  I  consider  a  mis- 
understanding of  the  essentials  to  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  any  science.  I  admit  that  thoroughness  of 
acquaintance  with  details,  and  familiarity  with  the  mi- 
nutiae of  a  subject,  that  is,  the  thoroughness  of  a  spe- 
cialist, is  to  be  attained  only  by  long  continued  and 
patient  investigation,  necessarily  consuming  much  time. 
But  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  principles,  and  with 
the  main  facts  illustrating  those  principles,  is  far  more 
important  in  the  culture  of  the  soul,  than  any  acquaint- 
ance with  detail ;  and  it  may  be  acquired  in  much  less 
time.  On  the  other  hand,  a  firm  grasp  of  fundamental 
principles  is  very  frequently  not  acquired  by  those  who 
have  gained  a  thorough  familiarity  with  all  the  details 
of  a  subject  When  a  student  has,  in  the  academic 
course,  been  thoroughly  grounded,  as  he  easily  may  be, 
in  the  principles  of  all  the  principal  sciences,  he  will  be 
much  better  prepared  to  turn  his  attention  with  advan- 
tage to  those  sciences  especially  connected  with  his 
professional  studies.  It  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  keep 
up  through  life  a  perfectly  liberal  culture ;  wre  must  all 


31 

become  specialists  in  that  department  to  which  natural 
proclivity  inclines  us  :  — 

Trahit  sua  quemque  voluptas. 

And  each  man  will  be  the  better  qualified  to  labor, 
in  whatsoever  department  his  work  lies,  in  proportion 
to  the  breadth  and  depth  of  his  acquaintance  with  all 
other  departments. 

In  order  that  our  philosophy  may  be  a  safe  guide  of 
our  lives,  it  must  be  a  sound  and  comprehensive  sys- 
tem, embracing  all  departments  of  our  thought  and 
action,  and  misleading  us  in  none.  As  the  ages  roll 
onward,  and  the  purposes  of  God  with  respect  to  our 
human  race  become  more  apparent,  we  are  amazed  at 
the  greatness  of  the  work  which  is  intrusted  to  our 
feeble  hands.  It  becomes  evident  that  a  subdivision  of 
labor  is  necessary,  and  that  each  person  must  do  that 
part  for  which  he  is  best  fitted  by  the  gifts  of  nature 
and  by  the  acquirements  of  education.  But  with  the 
advantage  of  this  subdivision  of  labor  may  also  come 
the  disadvantage  of  introducing  a  diversity  of  interests, 
and  an  alienation  of  sympathies  among  those  who 
should  be  brethren.  Before  a  man  gives  himself  up  to 
the  special  pursuits  of  his  profession,  let  him  so  thor- 
oughly understand  the  spirit  and  aim  of  other  profes- 
sions, as  to  be  always  in  sympathy  with  all  true  minds. 
It  is  partly  from  the  neglect  of  natural  history,  in  the 
general  course  of  liberal  education,  that  men  have 
been  so  much  occupied  in  wrangling  about  matters 


32 

above  their  comprehension,  while  they  have  left  un- 
learned the  plainest  lessons  in  the  school  of  life.  It  is 
not  from  acquaintance  with  natural  science,  but  from  a 
partial  ignorance  of  it,  —  ignorance  of  its  highest  teach- 
ings, —  that  some  men  have  failed  to  see  in  natural 
objects  those  religious  truths  which  are  the  necessary 
intellectual  basis  for  understanding  the  plan  of  crea- 
tion. Beyond  question,  the  opposite  fault,  which, 
under  pretence  of  worshipping  the  Father  of  our  spir- 
its, despises  the  bodies  he  has  made,  and  speaks  with 
contempt  of  the  vain  pursuits  of  natural  philosophy, 
of  studying  stars  and  tides,  matter  and  motion,  arises 
from  an  imperfect  and  erroneous  culture. 

The  theme  to  which  I  have  invited  your  attention 
has  wide  relations  to  the  future  welfare  of  all  nations 
and  all  classes  of  society.  It  is  not  for  man  to  add  to 
the  original  powers  which  the  Almighty  has  bestowed 
upon  each  of  his  creatures.  Those  who  have  expected 
that  education  would  transform  all  students  alike  into 
men  of  talent,  and  even  into  men  of  genius,  are 
doomed  to  disappointment.  But  as  surely  as  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  garden  exceed  the  wild  fruit  of  the  forest, 
so  surely  has  our  common  scheme  of  education  a  pow- 
erful influence  over  the  general  tone  of  human  thought 
and  the  general  extent  of  human  attainments.  A  par- 
tial culture,  omitting  from  the  course  of  instruction 
essential  departments  of  the  hierarchy  of  science,  must 
perpetuate  narrowness  of  view  and  littleness  of  aim. 
But  let  our  general  course  of  education  in  our  common 


33 

schools  and  colleges  be  planned  according  to  wide  and 
comprehensive  views,  giving  a  broad  and  liberal  culture 
to  all  our  people,  and  there  shall  surely  arise  among  us 
men  who  will  carry  forward  each  branch  of  philosophy, 
science,  and  art  toward  perfection,  and  who  shall  rejoice 
not  only  at  the  rapid  development  of  his  chosen  art  or 
science,  but  at  the  general  success  of  his  fellows. 
When  we  reflect  upon  the  mighty  changes  of  the  last 
two  centuries,  produced  in  great  measure  by  the  in- 
creasing attention  to  natural  science,  since  the  days  of 
Galileo  and  Gilbert,  and  by  the  introduction,  through 
the  influence  of  Lord  Bacon's  educational  writings,  of 
scientific  themes  among  the  speculations  of  the  learned ; 
when  we  see  also  that  the  rate  of  change,  both  in  the 
progress  of  science  and  of  art,  has,  within  the  period  of 
our  own  observation,  been  rapidly  accelerating,  we  can 
hardly  look  forward  with  too  lively  a  hope  for  the  still 
more  splendid  fruits  which  may  spring  from  a  better 
cultivation  of  the  human  powers  under  this  clearer 
light,  which  seems  so  rapidly  approaching  a  noonday 
brightness.  But  the  noonday  of  science  can  never 
arrive ;  her  light  is  to  increase  without  end.  The  re- 
sources of  an  absolutely  infinite  Spirit  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  happiness  of  His  creatures  can  never  be  ex- 
hausted. It  has  been  recently  stated  by  a  member  of 
our  fraternity  (of  whose  correctness  in  calculation 
there  can  be  no  doubt),  that  a  single  division  of  a  sin- 
gle department  of  one  branch  in  the  hierarchy  of 
science,  contains  an  abundant  occupation  for  the  most 

.'57951 8 


34 

powerful  human  intellect,  for  at  least  a  hundred  mil- 
lions of  years.  If  there  is  so  much  untilled  land  in  a 
single  division  of  the  single  science  of  Geometry,  it  is 
evident  that  no  human  mind  can  estimate  how  vast  the 
field  of  the  whole  encyclopedia ;  nor  weigh  the  irresist- 
ible strength  of  the  presumption  thence  arising,  that 
we  are 

Heirs  of  eternity,  yborn  to  rise 

Thro'  endless  states  of  being  ;  still  more  near 

To  bliss  approaching  and  perfection  clear. 


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